Challenger Whistleblower Dies of Cancer

By Jason Rhian

Roger Boisjoly, an aerospace engineer who warned that extreme cold temperatures could comprimise O-rings within the space shuttle's solid rocket boosters before the Challenger disaster has died of cancer. he was 73. Image Credit: NASA

If you mention the word “Challenger” and the first name out of the average person’s mouth will more-than-likely be “McAuliffe.” Few people will say “Roger Boisjoly.” Boisjoly was the Morton Thiokol (now ATK) aerospace engineer that warned about the severe cold conditions – and the impact that they could have on the O-rings in the space shuttle’s Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs).

Boisjoly passed away on Jan. 6 after a battle with cancer. He warned of the danger of trying to launch with temperatures as low as those predicted to occur on Jan. 28, 1986. He was overruled. After the loss of Challenger and the resulting Rogers Commission Boisjoly found himself shunned by coworkers and he eventually resigned.

Although managers and employees at Morton Thiokol may have turned against him, Boisjoly will largely be remembered for his efforts to put shuttle crew safety ahead of launch schedules. After leaving Thiokol he become a speaker for workplace ethics and in 2010 he donated numerous notes ad papers that he had accumulated during his time with the aerospace firm to Chapman University in Orange, California – where it will be made available to the public.

No comments yet to Challenger Whistleblower Dies of Cancer

Now this is a true HERO. Anyone who works in corporate America knows there is a constant pressure of job security and doing the right thing. Some folks, like this gentleman, have a more serious set of consequences to deal with. This is the nature of how we have our institutions structured, and therefore contributary to all these “disasters that could not have been foreseen”.,…911, the second shuttle, gulf oil spill, WMDs not there, pearl harbor, housing bubble, financial system melt down, Japan nuclear plant melt down, chernobyl, 3 mile island, numerous airline accidents….no end to it…

Our Government needs to take lessons from his example as does corporate America. People come first, then money! There’s a reason that Nasa is synonymous with Need Another Seven Astronauts – They don’t value the lives of those who fly their space crafts. Just like the Government and Corporate America do not value the American People.
Had they (NASA) listened to him, we would not have lost those astronauts or the Chalenger!

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